1 dead, 36 injured after blast at New York City shipyard: officials

A blast at a shipyard on New York's Staten Island Friday injured several people, fire officials say. (AP Digital Embed)

NEW YORK — One person has died after blast Friday at a New York City shipyard, officials say.

Officials said 36 people were injured, most of them firefighters and other first responders, and one civilian died.

A firefighter and a fire marshal were inside the structure when a second explosion happened, and both were seriously injured by the shock wave from the blast.

“This was a complex, fast-developing emergency situation,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a press conference Friday evening.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK — A fire and explosion at a shipyard on New York City’s Staten Island has injured 30 people, including at least three with serious injuries, the New York Fire Department said.

Someone reported two workers trapped in a confined space at the dock at about 3:30 p.m. Friday, and responding firefighters found a fire burning in the basement of a large metal structure at the dock, said Joanne Mariano with the fire department’s press office.

Crews were still fighting the fire when a major explosion occurred at the site roughly 50 minutes later, she said.

Emergency workers had counted 16 people on site with injuries by 5 p.m., Mariano said, including two firefighters and one civilian with serious injuries. Two additional firefighters had moderate injuries, and the rest had minor injuries. Two EMS workers were among those with minor injuries.

The number of injured people had climbed to 30 a couple of hours later, the fire department said.

There were more than 200 firefighters and emergency medical personnel from 68 units responding to the site Friday evening, Mariano said. The cause of the fire and explosion is still under investigation.

Richard Oviogor, who was in the area, told WABC-TV that he heard two explosions and what seemed like a “big shock wave.”

The area is home to several businesses, including a coffee roasting company and a self-storage facility. The shipyard used to be owned by the Bethlehem Steel Company, which built ships for the U.S. Navy during Second World War.

Michael R. Sisak And Rebecca Boone, The Associated Press